The present invention is directed to a traveling support information processing system which detects movement of vehicles running on a road such as acceleration, deceleration, and lane change with a computer, prepares information concerning utilization of the road by adding such road information as a road width, slope, and lane configuration to the detected data, and provides the information to the vehicles running on the road.
As the technology for projecting or simulating movement of vehicles on a road traffic system with a computer, there are, for instance, the xe2x80x9cPARAMICSxe2x80x9d (Gordon Cameron, Brian J. N. Wylie, David McArthur, xe2x80x9cPARAMICS-Moving Vehicles on the Connection Machinexe2x80x9d, IEEE 1994xe2x80x9d) in England, xe2x80x9cSmartPATHxe2x80x9d(Farokh Eskafi, Delnaz Khorramabadi, Pravin Varaiya, xe2x80x9cSmartPATH: An Automated Highway System Simulatorxe2x80x9d, PATH TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM 92-3, Oct. 23, 1992xe2x80x9d) in the United States, and xe2x80x9cSOUNDxe2x80x9d (Masao Kuwabara, xe2x80x9cWide area network simulationxe2x80x9d, Automobile Technology No. 152, No. 1, 1998) in Japan.
All of these technologies for projecting or simulating movement of vehicles on a road traffic system with computers are related to systems which simulate or project data concerning a road network, behaviors of vehicles, road infrastructure such as traffic signals, and options made by car drivers such as lane selection, outputs a result of calculation concerning movement of vehicles, traffic density, and the like to assess the situation on the road traffic system. On the other hand, the traffic information delivery systems as represented by the VICS provided by Road Traffic Information Communication Center Foundation, (www.vics. or. jp) are systems which collect information from sensors and deliver projected information concerning occurrence of traffic jams or the like unilaterally to users of a road traffic system, and the systems are currently used.
By the way, currently a road traffic system is utilized by car drivers, and each of the drivers drive a car by projecting behaviors of other car drivers depending on his or her experience, information on utilization of a road on which the driver is now running, and following traffic rules. During these operations, when an error occurs in determination by each car driver or any car driver has a strong will to follow the driver""s determination, a traffic accident or a traffic jam occurs. For a view point of smooth utilization of a road traffic system, to improve safety and smoothness in a traffic flow on the road traffic system, it is necessary to eliminate errors made by car drivers in determination of a situation on the traffic system. To satisfy this requirement, it is necessary for a number of car drivers running on a road traffic system to be capable of sharing information concerning situations on the road traffic system so that each car driver can determine how other car drivers behave, and when this requirement is satisfied, car drivers can make more accurate determination of situations on a road traffic system as compared to a case where car drivers have only a small volume of data concerning traffic situations. In the traveling support information processing system for smooth utilization of a road traffic system as described above, however, the freedom of each car driver must be esteemed, and therefore it has been impossible to restrict each individual""s freedom or to make it possible for many car drivers to consult with each other so that many driver""s freedom is esteemed as much as possible and at the same time safety and smoothness in road utilization are improved. Namely in the conventional technology, it has been impossible for an on-road system or an on-vehicle system to assess delivered information, nor for car drivers to request delivery of required information according to their necessity or to request consultation between car drivers. Further a specific device is required to acquire data on a current position of each vehicle, which disadvantageously results in increase of cost.
The traveling support information processing system according to the present invention comprises (1) a radio communication means for interactive communications, (2) a means for receiving specification of particular vehicles from among a plurality of cars with which communication is possible, (3) a means for collecting information from the specified vehicles, (4) a means for outputting information to the specified vehicles, (5) a means for preparing information concerning utilization of a road traffic system, (6) a means for enabling consultation for assessment of behaviors of the vehicles with which communication can be performed between the information processing system installed on a road and that loaded in vehicles at least once, and (7) a means for determination of behaviors of vehicles in the future. These means function as described below and can improve safety and efficiency in road utilization.
Namely the radio communication means (1) for interactive communication which is a first means enables communications between an on-road system and devices loaded in vehicles or among vehicles, and the means only deliver information. The means (2) for receiving specification of particular vehicles from among a plurality of cars with which communication is possible, which is a second means, makes specification for all types of processing in all of the vehicles which can communicate with, for instance, the first means from the means (3) for collecting information from the specified vehicles, which is a third means, installed on a road or in vehicles or on both the road and in the vehicles. In this step, vehicles specified by different cars as an object for processing may be different, but there is no difference in the method of solving the problem with the means constituting the information processing system. When the object for processing is decided by the second means, the third means collects information from each of the vehicles, each being specified as an object, for processing. It is possible that contents of information delivered from different cars via the first means may vary from car to car, but collected information is information concerning behaviors of vehicles such as acceleration, deceleration, and lane change and a will and an aim of each car driver, namely information of destination of each vehicle.
Then, when information is collected by the third means from the running vehicles, the means (5) for preparing information concerning utilization of a road traffic system, which is a fifth means, performs projection on behaviors or traveling plans of the vehicles specified as an object for processing, and project how the road is utilized by the vehicles specified as an object for processing. The means (4) for outputting information to specified vehicles, which is a fourth means, sends the information projected by the fifth means to the vehicles specified as an object for processing. Then, the means (6) for enabling consultation for assessment of behaviors of the vehicles with which communication can be performed between the information processing system installed on a road and that loaded in vehicles at least once, which is a sixth means, determine whether the information collected by the fifth means is correct or not, and finally the means (7) for determination of behaviors of vehicles in the future, which is a seventh means, determines a plan for actions in the future with either an on-road or an in-vehicle information processing unit, and make the vehicles run according to the action plan. With the system as described above, information on action plans of other vehicles can be notified to each driver, and behaviors of vehicles dependent on the experience of and projections by inexperienced car drivers can be changed to behaviors of vehicles which can contribute to improved safety and efficiency in road utilization. As described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a traveling support information processing system comprising information processing units provided on a road and in vehicles, which enables not only exchange of information between the information processing units, but also improvement of safety and efficiency in road utilization by exchanging information for more effective utilization of information.